State to make decision about mental health care funding by Friday

Feb. 26--CARLSBAD -- Carlsbad should find out Friday morning whether funding for Southeastern New Mexico's only residential substance abuse facility will stay in town.

Wayne Lindstrom, head of the New Mexico Behavioral Health Collaborative, is expected to meet with the Mayor's Mental Health Task Force at a public meeting Friday.

There he will announce who will receive the funding being used to run the drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility, Villa de Esperanza, Jeff Diamond, chairman of the Mayor's Mental Health Task Force, said at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

A decision was supposed to have been made by this week, but the state put off making a decision until either tonight or Friday morning, Diamond said.

Lindstrom will arrive in Carlsbad tonight, and a Dutch treat dinner will be held at the Steven's Inn at 6:30 p.m. so city councilors and the public will have a chance to visit with him about mental health services in the community, Diamond said.

"This means we have about 72 hours to take out our political rubber hoses to do whatever it is you as individuals or the City Council collectively wants to do to get funding for a program or to keep Villa Esperanza up and running," Diamond said to city council Tuesday.

Villa de Esperanza is currently the only residential drug and alcohol abuse treatment facility in Southeastern New Mexico, and of the three -- possibly four -- entities to bid for the funding, only Golden Services is locally based.

County and city officials are concerned that if a local entity does not receive the bid, the funding and the services provided by Villa de Esperanza will leave Carlsbad entirely.

"It would be an atrocity if anyone who gets the grant or contract does not operate it (Villa de Esperanza)," Diamond said. "We all know that people from Carlsbad are going to have a very difficult time traveling to Taos or Santa Fe or elsewhere to get to a residential substance abuse program."

Both the Eddy County Commission and the Carlsbad City Council have unanimously supported measures to keep the inpatient mental health services in Carlsbad.

The commission specifically approved a letter naming Golden Services, because it was the only local company, while the City Council chose not to name a specific entity, just in case another company surfaced that wanted to keep the services local.

"We don't want to antagonize anyone else who may be bidding for that project by favoring one over the other," Diamond told the City Council.

The current provider of Carlsbad mental health services, Turquoise Health and Wellness, announced that it was operating at a loss and will stop operating in Carlsbad on March 31.

Presbyterian Medical Services has agreed to expand its services in order to fill the gap when Turquoise leaves, but was mainly able to take over the outpatient services.

Presbyterian was unable to take over the residential substance abuse services offered by Villa de Esperanza, causing the need for a different entity to take over management.

Katie England can be reached at 575-628-5516.

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